ambient
by the sky's bouquet
Summary: sitting on top of the still shingled black roof with a certain person, watching the sun peek out from the far away horizon was something alice would never forget. — alice. shun.


Mornings' Ambient Light

-x-

_**The sky would turn the purest shade at twilight. Genuine hues of violet, vibrant peachy pinks, soft shades of pastel yellow, and periwinkle blues would drag across the heavens as if it was a canvas. **_

_**An abstract painting that no amount of money could ever buy.**_

_**The unpolluted clouds would dance across the slightly illuminated dark skies, in a slow waltz that filled the young woman with peacefulness and serenity.**_

_**Sitting on top of the still shingled black roof with a certain person, watching the sun peek out from the far away horizon, was something Alice would never forget.**_

_-x-_

Her arms reached out from the comfort of the thick blankets that had built a wall around her. Wiping her eyes with dozy hand movements, the fourteen (Almost fifteen) girl propped herself back on the wall the bed was pushed against. The room was still very much dark, faint snores coming from her two roommates.

The clock read 5:37 AM.

Stifling a yawn, the redhead staggered out from her bed and towards the wood desk that sat in the corner of the Wardington Tower room. It had only been several hours ago that Dan had pulled off a great win against…Hal-G/Grandfather Michael. Most of the Brawlers had decided to crash in Wardington Tower for the night and head home afterwards.

She searched through the drawers of the desk, finally yanking out a formal notepad. It took another few minutes to find a pen that had not ran out of ink. After quickly scrawling an explanation for her disappearance, she signed her name at the bottom.

"_Julie, Runo–_

_Good Morning you two! Its 2:37 right now and I'm going for an early morning walk. Don't be alarmed, I'll probably be back by the time you sleepy-heads wake up. If I'm not back that time, you'll probably find me outside…Don't try to look for me, though. See you guys either back here or with the others at the buffet._

_Signed,_

_Alice."_

The said girl didn't take any more time to change; she just threw on her yellow overcoat, pulled on a pair of crinkled white shorts, and stuffed her feet into the nearest pair of footwear that happened to feet. Alice was still wearing the blue flannel pajama top when she left the room.

Making sure she had the key to the room in her pocket, Alice locked the door and briskly made her way towards the elevators. She didn't really know why or where she was going, but it didn't matter.

After all, didn't her Grandfather always say that the journey, not destination, was what counted?

The thought made her smile. Her beloved Grandfather was back, with no trace of Hal-G left in his system. She couldn't be happier! Except for the detail that in a few days she would leave this wonderful place and return to the Mansion-in-the-Forest back in Russia.

After descending around twenty ((Maybe even more…She stopped counting after seventeen)) stories, Alice stepped out of the musty cramped elevator. The bottom floor was dimly lit; the workers that usually walked around the Tower had taken their leave after Marucho got his parents to buy out the tower for a couple of days or so. The glass panel door opened swiftly as she moved towards it.

The fresh smell of nature blasted through the doorway as soon as it completely opened. The sun had only begun to peek out from the tall, blue mountains and it was still pretty chilled. Normal sounds of cars, subways, etc, etc had ceased to exist. Of course, the past day had been filled to the brim with excitement that most adults didn't understand. Even with the many newspaper articles, newscast, and reports that surrounded the whole Bakugan matter.

As an alternative, Alice heard sweet chirping birds, gushing water, and rustling of leaves. She began to walk around, pacing slowly to take in the scenery of a place she would truly miss. She would never forget this year…

Especially due to the fact that she also learnt that she had hosted a body of an _opposite_ gender that had plotted to take over the world with a green skinned _gremlin_ that happened to be her well educated Grandfather.

Now thinking back about it…It was a rather funny story. Giggling about the peculiarity of it all, Alice almost didn't catch another quiet chuckle that came from way, way above her.

Doe-like chocolate eyes immediately turned upwards. The chuckle-r was cleverly hidden by the lofty looming trees, but her sharp eyes caught sight of a distant silky black ponytail rippling in the gentle breeze. There was only one person who had a long ponytail, climbed on top of roofs, and that tone of voice. Embarrassingly, Alice had somehow memorized his mellifluous sounding laugh.

"Couldn't sleep either, Shun?" She asked, tilting her face up on the edge of Wardington Tower's glass roof. The figure laughed again, this time more seriously. He became a blur of black, green, and violet as his shadowed frame leapt from branch to branch. Alice thought her ears were playing tricks on her.

"Good morning. You shouldn't be out here at this time." He answered, lowering himself on the cobblestone ground. The Russian girl grinned, ignoring the bluntness of his words.

"It isn't safe to go up there. You could, you know…Fall off." Alice murmured in a flustered manner. She hadn't been this close to him after the whole 'lone wolf' business more than several months ago. After her identity as Masquerade had been revealed, he had barely spoken to her. His laugh echoed eerily in the morning air.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine…Ninja, remember?" He paused, hesitantly, "Do…Do you maybe want to join be up there? I want you to see something."

Her heart sped up, while her cheeks turned an alarming shade of crimson. He laughed once again and pressed a cool hand against her forehead.

"Are you okay? Do you have a _fever_ or something?" He asked in mock worry. Alice opened her mouth to answer, flushing red. Shun didn't let her answer, instead he tenderly cradled her bridal style in his arms and began to jump fluidly back up to the roof. It took almost every ounce of strength she had to not start screaming her head off and wake up all of Japan.

The moment Shun lightly laid her down on the crystalline roof, Alice lay there flabbergasted. After three minutes of solid her astonishment and being paralyzed, Shun had reacted rather amusedly. His gloved hand had started to twirl her orange curls, winding and unwinding pieces of her hair.

_I wish my hair had feeling…,_ She thought, unsteadily sitting up. "I like your shoes, by the way." He asked, smirking as Alice shot up and stared at her footwear.

"I was still drowsy!" She defended herself, tragically face-palming. Her usual white with green lace square heeled boots had been replaced with a pair of fuzzy, pastel pink…_bunny slippers_ that had big rainbow of pink bows on the stitching of where the bunnies' ears connected with the head. "They belong to Julie." Alice added hastily.

"Shhh. Look straight ahead, Alice. It's time." He murmured, placing a long finger in front of his mouth. She ran her tongue over her dry lips and nodded. Shun, undecidedly, let go of her curls.

Light flooded the roof; hues of the most beautiful colors reflected off the glass which shimmered like the ocean. She could hear his breathing quicken as the pink, orange, yellow, lavender, and blue blended swirled into an amazing piece of art.

"It's lovely…Magnificent!" Alice breathed, letting out the breath that she had been holding. Even the best artist in the entire world wouldn't be able to paint it _exactly _how it looked. The feeling just wouldn't be the same.

"My Grandfather says that twilight is like a single stroke of a samurai's sword caught in the right light that destroys the enemy." He admitted, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Kind of a weird way to put it, but since we're ninjas and all…It sort of fits."

Alice didn't reply, only stammer unintelligently at the sight before her. Twilight was so…perfect. It had no flaws, nothing but clear and utter perfection. By the time she was able to regain her senses, Shun had gone into the depths if his inner-self. He was thinking and Alice wasn't going to disturb.

"You're going back to Moscow." It wasn't a question, more of frank statement. Burgundy eyes swiftly turned, widening slightly. Shun nodded, still not meeting her eyes. He looked…different for some reason.

"But how did you know?" She asked, playing with her hands on her lap. Both of their legs dangled over the flat roof. Shun was kicking his feet to and fro.

"I --well, we-- all expected it. And…I heard your Grandfather speaking to you."

"Oh…" Alice trailed off, wishing the scene before her would just wrap her up in a big bundle and never let go. Their tense silence was broken by a hand reaching out to take hers. _Warm, _she taught, lacing her fingers between his. Sitting close to him felt perplexing…Yet unbelievably right.

"You'll write?"

"Of course."

Alice, right now, would have given anything to bottle up these sensations that exploded inside of as she held his hand and stared at _nature's work of art_.

_Would I be able to feel this feeling again back in Russia with Grandfather? _

_-x-_

_**Fin**_


End file.
